No. 25: Capitalism v. the Environment
Now on the docket...
Welcome back!! Writing this on my birthday (you know that euphoric high) and wanted to mention I was gifted a podcast mic from my incredible sister (who has written a section below!) so you can expect more ~high quality~ episodes soon!!
Check out…
Climate Foresight - For thoughtful insights into the economy, and what we should do instead, check out this newsletter! (Every Wednesday)
Climate change is disrupting businesses and the entire economy! Once a week in your inbox, ideas, data figures and success stories to keep you on top - less than 4 minute read to get smarter about climate
Goodbuy sustainable holiday gifts catalog - There’s an app, too!
Greta’s wise words
(Written by my sis! Who also has a newsletter 💗)
Greta Thunberg was recently in the news – and by this, I mean a bunch of right-wing pundits were yelling about her – for citing the capitalist system as a hindrance to environmentalism. While I wasn’t able to track down her speech in full, let’s break down the part that all the talking heads on cable news were jawing about.
She starts off with a relatively mild view on the climate crisis.
We are never going back to normal again because ‘normal’ was already a crisis. What we refer to as normal is an extreme system built on the exploitation of people and planet.
Hearing this, my mind flashes through images of the environmental damage caused by mining, fracking, industrial waste, oil drilling… I digress. My point is, I don’t think most people would find the above quote to be a controversial statement; the evidence is all around us. Companies increase their profit margins when they have to abide by fewer environmental regulations. And if those regulations weren’t in place, many of them would do whatever they needed to reach their quarterly goals, regardless of the damage caused– and we know this because that’s exactly what they used to do before we had those regulations! Our economy demands constant growth, and companies will stop at nothing to grow bigger, wealthier, and more influential than ever before.
Now, here’s where it gets spicier. You can bet these are the lines that got Fox News foaming at the mouth. Says Thunberg:
[Ours is] a system defined by colonialism, imperialism, oppression and genocide by the so-called global North… To solve this problem, we first need to understand it, and to understand the fact that the problem itself is… a series of interconnected problems… It has its roots in racist, oppressive extractivism that is sacrificing people and nature to maximize short-term profit for a few fortunate.
The idea of many social, economic, and environmental issues intersecting together is hardly a new idea. The philosopher Abigail Thorn discusses this far better than I could, and if you’d like to learn more, she has a great video here (timestamp 1:05 is particularly helpful). To address the bit about the “global North,” that’s referring to countries predominately located in the Northern hemisphere (i.e., Great Britain, Japan, the U.S., France) colonizing pretty much every other part of the world, the so-called global South (i.e., Vietnam, India, Côte d’Ivoire). And a quick review of imperialism explains the “racist, oppressive, extractivist” bit— colonial powers spent centuries stripping their subjects of their natural resources and keeping the gains for themselves, and those fortunate enough to live in the colonial powers still benefit to this day.
Think of our standard of living here in the U.S., for example. We continue to profit from formerly colonized nations, which still bear the economic and cultural scars inflicted on them by our forefathers. We can buy cheap clothes whenever we want— which are cheap because they’re often made in sweatshops, using hazardous chemicals— and our smartphones likely contain semiconductors mined using child labor in abhorrent conditions. Worst of all, there doesn’t seem to be much we can do as individuals to combat issues like the latter. While we can switch to buying from more ethical clothing companies, when it comes to minerals like coltan, “there is no simple way to keep [unethically-sourced coltan] out of the stream of legitimate minerals used by manufacturers,” according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
So perhaps Thunberg is right— fighting against climate change is not a simple issue, but in fact intertwined with many economic and historical factors. Together, we must acknowledge and tackle all of them— even if it means uprooting the whole system— if we ever want to see results.
Note from the author: I’d love to come back in a future newsletter and talk more about alternative economic systems that take environmental interests into account. Thanks for having me on this one, Ainsley!
The downfall of Twitter 🐦 ⬇
As someone who enjoyed the platform (as in past-tense) and hates Elon Musk (no billionaire amasses their wealth ethically), I HAD to talk about this.
Elon Musk's revelation that Twitter has suffered a "massive" revenue drop since he took over 10 days ago underscores the precarious nature of the social media company's finances after he saddled it with $13 billion in debt, credit experts say.
Musk tweeted on Friday that Twitter was losing more than $4 million a day, largely because advertisers started fleeing once he took over. He has blamed civil rights activists pressuring advertisers, though many in the advertising industry say his tweets spreading conspiracy theories have contributed.
(Reuters)
This is mostly due to the ‘$8 checkmark/mo’ controversy, and they’re losing advertisers, users, and chaos is amuck. (But it is quite entertaining!)
Eli Lilly stock then fell 4.37%.
U.S. Midterm elections results
I think I’m not the first to voice my gratitude for the lack of expected “red wave” (albeit, it could have been better for the Democrats), but below are the results and why you should care.
The wins
Wes Moore - first Black governor of Maryland with an aggressive climate plan and climate justice initiatives
Maura Healey - first openly lesbian governor, Massachusetts, who has sued ExxonMobil
Maxwell Frost - first Gen Z in congress (representative for Florida’s 10th congressional district)
In an interview with iGen Politics in October, Frost said that the climate crisis is one of the reasons he decided to run for Congress. He spoke about experiencing Hurricane Ian, a monstrous Category 4 storm that slammed into Florida’s southwest coast on Sept. 28, killing more than 100 people in the state. In the morning before the interview, he worked to distribute donated food and supplies to families displaced by the catastrophic storm.
Further reading:
6 wins and 2 losses on climate in the midterms - Vox
…The losses
Steven Johnson (R) of Kansas, state treasurer - “made ‘eliminating woke ESG investment strategies’ a key part of his campaign. Kansas could be the next state to join Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and West Virginia in punishing the investment company BlackRock over its climate commitments.”
Kimberly Yee (R) of Arizona, also state treasurer, wins reelection.
Yee has already said that corporate standards prioritizing climate change and the environment are “inappropriate for the investment room.” She hasn’t pulled state funds from these companies yet, but that may be a priority for her next term.
Further reading:
American students on 2022 midterms - Vox
Wrap-up
Sorry to skip the good climate news section, but I figured this was long enough, and there was some above! (Plus there always is… you can check out Climativity or Pathfinder for weekly, dependable good news! :)
 | A guest post by
|